PINELAND, Texas -- Race was apparently not a factor in the slaying of a white hitchhiker allegedly run over by a black man who wanted him to pay gas money, authorities said Monday. According to Jasper County authorities, The victim, Ken Bimbo Tillery, 44, visited a trailer mobile-home park Friday night and asked for a ride home. Blake Little, 34, and three others offered him a lift in Little's truck after agreeing on a price of $5 for gas, police said. The price increased to $50 by the time they arrived in Pineland, 130 miles away, police said.

By Gwyneth K. Shaw and E. Garrett Youngblood of The Sentinel Staff, July 4, 1998

ORMOND BEACH - Taped to the front door of Ray's Quality Meats on Friday, the sign warned customers: ``Closed because of fires. Hope to open on Monday.''But those words didn't tell the whole story. Volusia County's raging fires had done more to Mark Anderson and his family than deprive them of a couple of days' worth of business. Less than a mile away, Anderson's home lay in charred ruins, smoke still rising from the seared grass.``That was my first home - I've lived in others, but I was back in this one,'' Anderson said, still looking dazed hours after being allowed back into the ravaged area and discovering his loss.

PINELAND, Texas -- Race was apparently not a factor in the slaying of a white hitchhiker allegedly run over by a black man who wanted him to pay gas money, authorities said Monday. According to Jasper County authorities, The victim, Ken Bimbo Tillery, 44, visited a trailer mobile-home park Friday night and asked for a ride home. Blake Little, 34, and three others offered him a lift in Little's truck after agreeing on a price of $5 for gas, police said. The price increased to $50 by the time they arrived in Pineland, 130 miles away, police said.

WALLACE O. KINDRED, 82, Pineland Avenue, Port Orange, died Saturday, May 21. Mr. Kindred was a retired firefighter for the Bethlehem, Pa., Fire Department. Born in Nazareth, Pa., he moved to Central Florida in 1973. He was a member of Epiphany Catholic Church, Port Orange. Survivor: wife, Helen. Baldwin-Hughey Funeral Home, New Smyrna Beach.

Forest fires in southern New Jersey that forced hundreds of people to flee their homes and authorities to close a nuclear power plant were brought under control Monday. Reinforcements arrived to relieve the hundreds of firefighters who had been fighting a series of blazes across the sparsely populated southern belt of the state called the Pinelands. Authorities said most of the fires had been brought under control but estimated that the hottest and biggest fire might burn for days.